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permission to be initiated into monkhood So the boys came to some monks and were initiated as monks. During the day, they were happy, but at night, before day-break, they were very much distressed by hunger and cried bitterly,
"Give us rice. Give us food to eat".
The elderly monks tried to pacify them saying,
"Abuses! Have patience. After day-break, eat yabāgū, rice or bread whichever be available. If nothing is available, then, go out to beg and eat whatever you get". .
The words of the senior monks were no sauce for the boys who were very hungry. They were restless and rolled on the bed.
(This happened everyday). One day, the Buddha came to know of it. He collected the monks around himself and said,
"Monks ! Men who are below 20 are unable to bear heat and cold, hunger and thirst, snake bite and scorpion bite, etc. They are unable to bear harsh words of their enemies, nor are they able to bear painful, severe, rough, harsh, adverse, unbearable and fatal diseases. Monks ! Because of considerations such as these, I lay down that one should not be given upasampadā before 20"(59).
From that day, the minimum age for initiation into the Euddhist order became 20. But then occasions cropped up when it became necessary to accept a young boy below 20 into the order, so that the Buddha himself had to make concession. This was the creation of a new order of junior monks called sramaner. Once after an episode, the Buddha laid down the following rule:
"A boy below 15 should not be made a sramaner. He who initiates one into the sramaner order before this age commits a crime named dukkata"(60).
